We spent Monday at the SHOT Media Day at the range. There were several manufacturers on hand to let us test drive their products.
Suppressed firearms were in abundance. Suppressors are legal in 39 states, and the market is opening up more and more to citizens who are not in the military or law enforcement. Unfortunately, one of the states which does not recognize our right to own suppressors is Minnesota, so this was one of few opportunities we get to shoot suppressed guns.
The most interesting “new” guns were from Smith and Wesson. They are releasing improved versions of the K Frame .357 and L. frame .44 magnums. The .357 was pleasant to shoot, the .44 not so much. Their new 9mm revolver was also a big hit. It was accurate, controllable, and used moon clips.
We also checked out three .380s. Personall, Erik has a hard time getting excited about these, but we can’t deny there is a market for them. The Glock 41 is exactly what we would expect from Glock. It was the largest .380 we looked at. It has the same trigger and sights we would expect from a Glock, and is only slightly smaller than a S&W Shield.
Speaking of S&W, the Bodyguard .380 was a real suprirse. It was very accurate and had better sights than expected. The one downside was the trigger – long double-action style pull for each shot. It reminded us of a revolver trigger. This was our favorite .380 of the three.
Bringing up the rear was the Beretta Pico. We don’t have a lot of nice things to say about this one. Gritty, long trigger, small sights, and too small. It’s better than nothing.
We’ll have more SHOT updates soon – stay tuned!!
